When I Was Young

The Canfield in-gathering has two fragmentary versions of this -- dating the redaction back to 1926.  The fullest compresses the ballad to:

It was at a ball I met him,
He asked me for a dance.
I knew he was a sailor
By the buttons on huis pants.

It was in my mother's hallway
That I was led astray.
It was in my mother's bedroom
That I was forced to lay.

He laid me down so gently.
He raised my dress so high.
He said, "My darling, Nellie,
We'll do it now or die."

Now all you gay young maidens,
Just take a tip from me,
And never let a sailor
Get an inch above your knee.

He'll kiss you and caress you.
He'll swear he loves you true,
But when he's got your cherry,
He'll say, "To hell with you."

In a letter to Canfield's associate, Alan N. Steyne, Archie Coates of New York City, on March 19, 1929, wrote that "another gem which I have heard, but never learned... begins 'Twas in my mother's hallway,/That I was led astray.'"  According to Coates, it is to be sung to the tune "Christmas in the Harem," which may be another title for "Christmas in the Workhouse."